The aura of the Phoenix Force circled around Jean and Wanda; Wanda could feel the heat from it radiating onto her skin, cooking her alive. She tried her best to counteract Jean's powers by inserting her red magic between them and Jean's powers; it stopped her from being burned but did nothing to cool the air down.
Jean dropped them both to the ground and used her telekinesis to grab a tree root out of the ground and slam it on Wanda. Wanda blocked it with a shield of magic then blasted Jean back. Jean commanded the dirt around Wanda's feet to engulf her but Wanda counteracted Jean's telekinesis with her own: she forced the dirt to Jean then grabbed a large piece of rubble and threw it.
They continued on like that for a while; just trading attacks and throwing things at each other, with no end in sight. Wanda knew that if they kept fighting just the physical battle then neither one of them would win anytime soon. She had to play the mental battle too. She had to use all of her powers.
Wanda summoned a mist of red fog into a small portion of the sky and flew into it; Jean flew in after her. The clouds in the dome of magic were all red; it was hard to see so Jean tried using her telepathy to sense where Wanda was, but to no success. She spun around in a circle, looking everywhere for Wanda. Meanwhile, Wanda had hidden herself in the mist. Jean let out an explosion of cosmic energy all around to try to disband the facade but the red magic remained.
Wanda flew in behind her and shot a ray of red magic at her —Jean caught it with her telekinesis and threw it back. Wanda shot out two more rays and flew directly towards Jean, she reached her hand out for Jean's head. Jean dodged so fast that Wanda saw nothing but a blur in front of her. She appeared behind Wanda and grabbed both of Wanda's temples. Suddenly the world around her began to change.
Wanda was no longer in the sky fighting the Phoenix force, instead she was back at her house in Westview. Everything was just as she left it, the furniture, the pictures on the walls, even her water cup was still on the kitchen counter. She stood in the living room of the home and took in her surroundings. She heard the patter of footsteps in front of her and watched the kitchen door swing open and two boys run out of it: Billy and Tommy.
"Hey mom!" Billy shouted as the two boys ran past her and up the stairs.
She was so shocked to see them that she couldn't even say anything back, she just watched them run up the stairs to their room. She heard the front door open behind her and turned to see who it was.
"Hello darling." Vision greeted her happily as he set his briefcase on the floor near the front door.
She stared at him in silence, a mixture of happiness and sadness in her face. Without a word she ran up to him and embraced him tightly, not wanting to let go. He was shocked but hugged her anyways then chuckled and pulled her back to look her in the eyes.
"I was only gone a day." He teased.
"Yeah..." She said quietly with a soft smile and tears welling up in her eyes.
"Well anyways, I should go get cleaned up." He said, making his way to the stairs.
She watched him walk halfway up the stairs then freeze. All time around her stopped and the walls of the house began disintegrating.
"This can be real, Wanda." Jean's voice said from behind her.
"It can't..." Wanda whispered back.
"I can make it real... all you have to do is help me."
"I want nothing more than to stay here with them. But this isn't real, and the price to get them back isn't one I'm willing to pay. I see that now." She looked at Vision one last time then formed a runic mandala at her feet.
The red runes glowed bright until the walls of this reality began to crack. The walls of the house crumbled and the ghosts of Vision and her sons began fading away. Jean flew to Wanda and grabbed her arm. The glowing veins on Jean's face began spreading to Wanda's arm and up her body. Wanda yelled out in pain and focused her magic on blocking Jean out. The orange veins then turned to a scarlet red and the cracks in her arm began repairing themselves, her eyes glowed red and her magic infested Jean's veins instead. Jean dropped to the floor, holding onto her head in pain.
The cracks in all the walls flashed a bright white light and both Jean and Wanda were back in the real world. Wanda was already drained from fighting Jean off so she didn't have much strength left to defend herself when Jean grabbed her with her telekinesis and threw her into the ground. All of the Avengers watched as she plummeted towards the ground. Jean dropped down after her and landed on her feet over Wanda. Wanda groaned in pain and Jean placed her hand on Wanda's head; her thumb and middle finger on either temple and her pointer finger on Wanda's forehead.
The cracks began moving through Wanda's head again, she yelled in pain and tried her best to fight back with her own telekinesis. She managed to slow down the movements of the cracks but Jean kept fighting back, her fury motivating her. Wanda formed a small ball of energy then blasted Jean back; she stumbled back and Wanda rushed up and put her hands on Jean's temples then used her telepathic powers to show Jean something as well. The same trick she used on the Avengers when she first met them.
"Do you remember?" Wanda asked with her red magic swirling around Jean's head.
Images of her old life began flashing through her head like a slideshow; she saw everyone, her friends, the school, Professor X... Scott. Everyone she massacred when she lost control of her powers and destroyed the school. She started breathing heavily and dropped to her knees as the rush of pain and guilt flooded her brain. The pain she felt from killing everyone she loved was so great she couldn't get her body to respond to her commands, she just dropped to the floor and let the pain flood through her.
"Stop!" She begged, but Wanda only dug deeper.
"You killed them. Murdered them just like that."
"No... I didn't mean to!"
"But you did."
Wanda moved her powers from Jean's head to her heart. She began to dig her magic deep into Jean's chest and pulled something out. She reached the stones and worked on removing them from her body while still showing Jean images of all the horrible things she had done. The Infinity Stones glowed so bright from inside Jean's body that Wanda had to squint despite the light being filtered by Jean's clothes and skin.
Wanda used the last bit of her strength and pulled the infinity stones out of Jean, releasing a blast of light and a shockwave of cosmic energy that spread throughout the battlefield. She held the stones in the air with her powers and smiled. It worked; she did it.
"Get out of my head!" Jean shouted, then blasted Wanda back with an explosion of cosmic energy.
Wanda went flying across the field along with the stones. They each landed on separate parts of the field and a bright energy was seen emerging from Jean. A giant phoenix composed of illuminating orange cosmic energy came to life and began screeching; in the middle of it was Jean. Whatever little control Jean still had left over the Phoenix Force was destroyed by Wanda when she riled up her emotions. She flew through the air, burning everything in sight and disintegrating every living thing she touched. The mystical arts students formed mandala shields to protect as many people as they could, but they could only hold on for so long. They were already exhausted from fighting the army and now they had to hold off one of the most powerful beings in the universe.
All of the Avengers stopped fighting and looked up at the giant flying phoenix with worry and shock spread across all of their faces.
"Uh guys... What the hell are we supposed to do about that?!" Bucky shouted into the comms, but no one had an answer for him.
Jean was flying right towards the tower, destroying everything in her path. She already killed countless Wakandan soldiers, Mystical Arts students and SHIELD agents as well as part of her own army and now Clint's family would be added to the list if they didn't figure out a way to stop her and fast.
"NO!" Clint shouted.
Jean was almost in range of the tower when an orange beacon of light caught her attention from the other side of the field. In the distance, was Natasha on top of a hill, in her hand she held up the orange rock that was emitting the light; the Soul Stone. The Avengers all stared at her in confusion, pride and excitement –she was wielding an infinity stone. Right then the other stones started glowing too where they were; they gently floated off the ground and flew to five other people on the field.
The Space Stone went to Thor, Reality to Clint, Power to Bruce, Mind to Tony and Time to Steve. They held the stones in their hands and stared in disbelief before using them to attack the Phoenix Force. Bruce used the Power Stone to send concentrated blasts of energy towards the Phoenix, Steve used the Time Stone to reverse some of the deaths without disrupting the flow of time, Thor transferred as many people as he could out of harm's way. Clint created illusions of the Avengers to confuse Jean and Tony used the Mind Stone to stop the alien army from attacking their allies.
"Strange, what the hell is happening?" Wong asked.
Strange smiled and muttered something quietly. "That's why she was released..."
"What?"
Strange elaborated to Wong. "That's why Natasha was released from the Soul Stone! Someone had to wield it."
"Humans aren't supposed to be able to use the Infinity Stones." Wong exclaimed.
"I know. But look at them. They are the embodiments of the stones; the god from space, the one closest to reality, the one given power, the greatest mind, the man out of time and the soul of their team. They were meant for the stones."
Natasha looked at the stone in her hand then closed her eyes and held it to the sky. The flash from the stone could be seen from the entire field. They all closed their eyes for half a second as the flash passed. Jean sent a blast of cosmic energy towards Clint while he was distracted, he felt a gush of cold wind then opened his eyes to see himself in a different location and a familiar looking man with silver hair standing in front of him.
"You didn't see that coming." Pietro smiled and joked.
Clint laughed and hugged him, not even caring about how he was here right now. "It's good to see you kid."
"You too, old man."
Wanda slowly got off the ground when she heard the sound of two kids yelling to the side of her. Tommy used his superspeed to run him and his brother to their mom as she was picking herself off the ground.
"Mom!" They both shouted.
She looked at them and immediately hugged them before doing anything else. She pulled away and held their faces then looked into their eyes, smiling and wanting to cry at the same time. Billy picked up on his mother's thoughts immediately and held her hand.
"We missed you too, mom."
"And what about uncle Pietro?" Pietro questioned from behind her.
Wanda let out an audible gasp and ran to hug her brother. "Pietro." She whispered. They had a lot to talk about later.
Thor used his axe to cut a giant piece of debris in half as it was flying towards him, saving about a dozen people standing behind him when he heard someone call him from behind. He turned and saw a man with long black hair, wearing a golden helmet and green suit.
"Miss me, brother?" Loki asked, grinning.
"Not even a little." Thor said as he ran to hug his brother.
"Me neither." Loki said, hugging Thor back.
Natasha looked over the field, watching and planning her next move when she heard someone sneak up behind her.
"I was just starting to enjoy the show too." A green-skinned woman said from behind Natasha.
Natasha smiled at her and joked back. "You didn't think I'd just let you take the easy way out, did you?" She walked up to Gamora and hugged her.
"Gamora?" Peter Quill asked in disbelief.
She smiled at him then ran to embrace him. They shared a quick kiss when Nebula walked up. Gamora locked eyes with her sister and immediately ran to hug her, they wouldn't admit it, but they both needed it.
The Avengers were starting to win the fight with the power of the stones; the army had stopped attacking them thanks to Tony and the original six along with the Mystical Arts students were slowly containing the Phoenix Force. Colorful rays of light could be seen coming from the six stones to the Phoenix Force, draining its power as it struggled to fly away.
"Nat!" Wanda flew in.
"Hey, you okay?" She asked. Natasha looked at Pietro, Tommy and Billy and silently greeted them.
"Yeah. I think we can use the stones to contain Jean. We just have to tell the others to focus on sharing their energy with everyone else wielding a stone."
Natasha nodded but then felt a sharp pain in her head; she held her head as it began throbbing, the pain spread to the rest of her body. She started to glow a brilliant orange; the energy from the stone sent a wave of excruciating pain down her entire body, like lava running through her veins. She dropped to her knees and looked at her hands while gritting her teeth; she could see the texture of the ground through her hands, they were fading away. All throughout the battlefield the rest of the original six dropped too, the burden of the stones also taking a toll on them. All of their bodies glowed the same color of the stones, but only Natasha's was fading; the Soul Stone was taking her, she could feel it.
Sam and Bucky ran to Steve to check on him, Rhodey went to Tony, Pietro sped to Clint, Valkyrie and Loki to Thor and Captain Marvel to Bruce. They all watched in panic, not knowing what to do.
"Natasha!" Yelena shouted as she ran to her sister's side.
She knelt down beside Yelena and touched her shoulder; the minute her fingertips made contact with Natasha she felt the rush of pain go through her body as well –all the pain Natasha felt was spreading to Yelena. Natasha watched in horror as her little sister's body began to glow and fade away too, but saw that her own hands had stopped fading. Sharing the burden of the stone with Yelena gave her a sort of temporary release from its pull.
Wanda watched all six of the Avengers writhe in pain helplessly, unsure of what to do.
"Yelena, n-no!" Natasha said in a strained voice, still fighting the pain. "Let go!" She commanded her sister.
"No." Yelena told her, firmly.
"You're fading with me." She said desperately.
"Is that such a bad thing?"
"P-Please, there are still people in this world who need you."
"But I need you. You're my big sister." Yelena smiled at Natasha.
Starlord stood behind Gamora and Wanda helplessly as he searched his thoughts. "Xandar..." He whispered to himself. "That's it!" Wanda and Gamora turned to him in confusion and desperation. "Everyone, make contact with someone who has an Infinity stone! We can share the burden."
Wanda placed her hand on Natasha's shoulder followed by Gamora and Starlord, Bucky and Sam made contact with Steve, Pietro and Katy to Clint, Peter Parker and Rhodey to Tony, Valkyrie and Loki to Thor and Captain Marvel and T'Challa to Bruce. They all felt the rush of pain hit them as they made contact with the original six; they were joined by the rest of their allies on the field and the pain became less and less for each of them as more people joined them.
Natasha and Yelena stopped fading away; they looked at each other and smiled with tears streaming down their faces. They didn't know if they would both survive the rest of this battle, but at the very least they wanted the other to know how much they loved each other; they did so silently –that was all they needed.
The Avengers all focused on Wanda; they sent her their powers and she used it to fuel her own magic. She flew up, the stones floating in the air after her, sending her their cosmic energy which she absorbed with her scarlet magic. She encased Jean and the phoenix in a sphere of rainbow energy; Jean fought viciously to free herself from the cage, but it was no use, she was trapped and she was losing.
The flames of the Phoenix Force were almost completely gone now, all that was left was the subtle flow of orange cosmic energy around her. She and Wanda floated in the air face to face; the two most powerful beings in the universe.
"I'm supposed to be unbeatable." Jean contemplated looking at her hands and the sky of red around her.
Wanda gave her a somber look, despite all that happened she couldn't help but feel bad for Jean; she wasn't a monster by choice, she was just a victim backed into a corner. She never wanted to destroy everything; she lost control.
"You can't win when you have nothing left to fight for, Jean. I have all of them; my family, my sons, my brother, my best friend. What do you have left?"
Jean gave her a thoughtful look.
"You didn't choose any of this, it was decided for you the moment you bonded with the Phoenix Force. I am sorry that things went this way. Perhaps we could've been friends if things had gone differently." Wanda gave her a look of understanding as she conjured up a ball of red magic in the palms of her hands.
Jean nodded slightly and returned her understanding look. Wanda released her magic and blasted Jean into the atmosphere; at first her veins dimmed then her body started dematerializing and turning to dust. A shockwave of red and orange released through the sky of the battlefield followed by a blinding white light. The stones dimmed slightly and fell to the ground, releasing the original six from its burdens in the process. The energy of the Phoenix Force was dispersed through the atmosphere.
Wanda floated down to the ground gracefully as Thanos' army began to fade from the Earth, returning to their home in the Soul Stone. While the alien Army faded away, the rest of Jean's team turned to dust, just like when Thanos snapped his fingers all those years ago. Thor and Loki watched as their sister turned to ashes, Doctor Strange was able to finally rest after his long fight when Agatha began dusting, the tornado of dirt and rock subsided when Magneto disappeared and Peter Parker stopped to watch his old friend disappear.
Harry stopped attacking Peter the moment he saw his hand turning to dust. He watched it in shock and fear then gave Peter a pleading look.
"Peter! Peter, you gotta do something! I don't wanna go! Please Peter I-" Harry begged. He was no longer the Green Goblin, now he was just a scared teenager who didn't want to die. Peter felt for him, but there was nothing he could do. So he just watched woefully.
Peter held back tears as he watched his old friend beg. "I wish I could, Harry. I'm sorry things went this way. I'm sorry that you're paying for your dad's mistakes." By the time Harry was completely gone, there were two streams of tears on Peter's face.
All around the battlefield the aliens began disappearing, they had won, they just didn't know what it cost them. While everyone rejoiced with their friends and families and celebrated their victory in the moment as well as pay respects to their dead, Yelena stared into her sister's emerald eyes, waiting for her to disappear again. "I don't think I'm meant to survive this."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Natasha Romanoff...
This is the last chapter of the story, the epilogue will be out next week and that will be the final part of the story. We are basically done, so thanks for reading this far, it means so much to me. See you guys next week.
Please leave a comment and vote if you enjoyed.
Thanks for Reading!!